Passing the blame

The school principals and the provincial education board (PEB) in the provinces are being blamed for more than 6000 teachers dropping out of the payroll system recently. These were the findings of Education Minister Nick Kuman and the Secretary as reported in the media recently. However, it is evident that the minister and his adviser lacked substantive evidence to validate their comments. The bottom line is that teachers, school principals and the PEB value the importance of these vital Duty Resumption Sheets. Information sheets are distributed to teachers on the first day of the academic year and taken to PEB at the end of the first week. It has to receive the data sheet from the teachers otherwise they will not be paid on time. The problem is that the education policies are not being properly implemented by agencies like the PEB and the TSC. Both agencies have failed to coordinate the transiting of teachers’ information from the provinces to the department and to the TSC office. Can the Government engage a commission of enquiry to investigate this matter?